Acquired Taste: Food and the Art of Consumption

Front: Jennifer Rubell, Mannequin, 2011. Back right wall: Victoria Reynolds, Cartouche of the Resplendent Bung, 2010-11. Photo courtesy Begovich Gallery/sixpackprojects.

Through December 8, Acquired Taste: Food and the Art of Consumption is on view at California State University Fullerton in the Begovich Gallery. The exhibition features twelve artists whose work "focuses our reciprocal relationship to food: what we consume, how we consume it and how it consumes us." Artists include Sita Kuratomi Bhaumik, Dustin Wayne Harris, MyersBerg Studios, Tattfoo Tan, and Jennifer Rubell.

Rubell's installation (pictured here) invites visitors to place a nut in the mannequin’s inner thigh, then push down on the upper leg to crack it open. According to Rubell's website, "These interactive sculptures embody the two polar stereotypes of female power: the idealized, sexualized nude female form; and the too-powerful, nut-busting überwoman."

Curators Alyssa Cordova and Heather Richards have produced a full-color catalog -- with essays by me,  Jonathan Gold of LA Weekly, and Megan Fizell of Feasting on Art -- available early next year.

Read more about Acquired Taste here >>